No smokers!

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PREMIER LEAGUE football could be the first example of a strict no-smoking ban to be enforced by Independence Park Limited (IPL) at the National Stadium.

IPL general manager, Major Desmon Brown, told STAR Sports a policeman was ganged by enraged spectators during this week's Monday Night Live Premier League match between University of the West Indies and Arnett Gardens, after he approached a patron who was smoking inside the facility.

"When the police go to talk to people, they gang the police," Brown pointed out.

"I'm going to stop them, especially the football people, which is the worse set we have. We will have to stop them," he insisted.

Public-education campaign

Brown said he will be arranging a meeting with the police and the Ministry of Health because he believes the public-education campaign about the ban seems not to be working.

"It is extremely difficult to enforce. We have to come up with new strategies because the one we have now is not working," he said.

Brown was, however, hesitant about throwing offenders out of the stadium.

"You can do that, but what we don't want is to create a riot, maybe we need more police. I don't know, but we have to come up with a new strategy because the people around them are protecting them (smokers)," he said.

Fines for smoking at the stadium range from $10,000 for a first offence, $25,000 for a second and $50,000 for subsequent offences.